The American Dental Association estimates that there are approximately 183,000 active, licensed dentists in the United States. A large number of dentists in the United States use sharp dental explorers to probe for carious lesions. The probes are also used to distinguish between normal and softened dentin, to identify subgingival calculus, and to evaluate the marginal integrity of restorations. The use of a probe, also known as an explorer or sickle probe in the dental field, is well known throughout the dental field and is taught in dental school and practiced by practicing dentists. The explorer is generally used by running the sharp metal probe over a client's teeth. When the explorer catches or resists removal after the insertion into a pit or fissure with moderate to firm pressure and is accompanied by one or more of a softness at the base of the area, opacity adjacent to the pit or fissure, or soft enamel adjacent to the pit or fissure, the dentist typically recognizes a sign of caries. The dental explorer is typically an elongate metal probe that is maintained by sterilization and sharpening. Further the use of a disposable explorer is possible or an explorer with a disposable tip. The explorers can be made of, for example, a hard metal or a hard plastic. Dental explorers are also used to remove plaque from the examination area of a patient's tooth. The plaque is an indication that the area beneath the plaque needs to be examined for the presence of carious lesions. This is typically performed by a scraping action of the explorer shaft or by use of the explorer's tip to expose the underlying enamel surface. The tip of the explorer is also used to determine the presence or absence of surface roughness on the surface of any noncavitated area. In this process the tip of the explorer is moved gently across the surface of the noncavitated area in search of surface roughness that indicates enamel decay.